Joe Podlasek

Mr. Podlasek (Joe P) is the father of three children, Steven, Tristan and Agiina. A Citizen of the Ojibwe Tribe Lac Courte Oreilles Tribe in Northern Wisconsin, bear clan of the medicine lodge and Polish descent. His given Indian name: “Mush ka dee, bii sha gee bay go gob a way” was given to him by a Lakota Elder, Mr. Food, and then a traditional medicine man, Skip Sandman, also an Ojibwe citizen from Duluth, Minnesota translated into his traditional language in a naming ceremony.

Mr. Podlasek also serves as the Vice President and a founding member of the National Urban Indian Family Coalition, Graduating Fellow of the Leadership of Greater Chicago 2003, a founding member of the Chicago Cultural Alliance, Commissioner appointed by Mayor Daley for the Department of Human Relations, a member of the Secretary of State of Illinois Veteran Council, a member of President Obama’s Region Five Fatherhood Committee, and a curator for the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C. The Trickster Gallery is open year-round to the general public, and Joe invites everyone to visit.